Tuesday, October 28, 2014

NOM is just flailing away without clear purpose

As I previously noted, with the advent of marriage equality in North Carolina, National Organization for Marriage has nothing to show for its entire existence. How many millions of dollars have they pissed away in pursuit of banning same-sex marriage?

Now it has been reported that NOM has spent $117,000 on mailers supporting North Carolina House Speaker, Republican Thom Tillis who is running against incumbent Kay Hagan for the US Senate. NOM has also spent over $8,000 on three TV commercials opposing same-sex marriage (which indirectly support Tillis). That amounts to a $125,000 hissy fit — for what?

Just in passing, John Eastman was hired by Tillis and NC Senate President Phil Berger to represent the Republicans in a futile effort to upend marriage equality. Now the organization that Eastman chairs is funding Tillis. We don't know exactly who is paying Eastman or how much but it does cause one to wonder. Anything is possible when it comes to Eastman.

Suppose Tillis wins. What good does that do NOM? Or their sponsor, the Catholic Church? NOM still doesn't have anything close to the congressional super-majorities required for a constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriage. And even if they did, exactly which 38 states would ratify? Meanwhile, nothing is going to change the fact that North Carolina is an equality state.

NOM is out to prove something? The Tillis campaign has raised nearly $8 million as of October 15. NOM's support is somewhat trivial and irrelevant which pretty much sums up NOM's very existence. Of course neither the arithmetic nor the economic logic would prevent NOM from taking credit for a Tillis win.